Only about 20% of our oil comes from the Middle East.
The top ten oil suppliers to the U.S. are, in order, Canada, Saudi Arabia,
Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria, Angola, Iraq, Algeria, Ecuador, and Kuwait.
Only three of those are in the Middle East, and the last one, Kuwait, in tenth
place, accounts for a whopping one and three-quarters percent of the oil
imported into the U.S. in 2007.
Source for above is the U.S. Department of Energy:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbbl_a.htm

LOL, then take the proceeds from the yard sale and splurge at Wal-Mart. I
would not describe yard sales as businesses, otherwise the profits go back
to Uncle Sam via Schedules C and D which will do no damn good for this
economy.
Regarding federal tax, years ago, we had a 10% investment credit and income
average over a five period - that was a better and equitable stimulus.
This stimulus means the treasury prints more paper money which results in
more federal debt - now at more than 9 trillion dollars. The Chinese just
buy it up, over one trillion dollars so far, $330 billion is US treasury
notes according to Wikipedia. This is a strange relationship - your enemy,
ideology wise, is also your friend.

Over $4 trillion of the $9 trillion is intra governmental debt - the
result of taking the excess contributions of the 150 or so trust funds
and replacing them with non negotiable government notes. That leaves
the $5 trillion that is negotiable, some owned by foreign interests,
some owned by US funds and some owned by individuals in the form of
savings bonds and other government bonds.
BTW, if the debt were all paid off, it would require cashing in all
those IOUs and investing the $4 trillion portion in other things - in
short, privatizing the trust funds.
But all this is small potatos - the government has currently promised
over $50 trillion in unfunded social programs with politicians dreaming
up new ways to add to the tab to buy your votes.

I heard the Arabs were going to buy the US. They couldn't. I heard
that the Japanese were going to buy the US. They couldn't. Now
you're saying that China is going to do it. I'm not holding my
breath.
Find out what percentage of the national debt that 330 billion
represents. And how long it took China to accumulate it. And at what
rate the national debt is increasing.

And look at the rate that China is taking more of our money and has a much
stronger manufacturing base every ears while ours crumbles. I did not say
it would happen next week, but what if some despot leader in China decided
to play games, such as putting on an export tax of 100% or so, or stopped
exports in total to the US or a lot of other possibilities? Or if China
buys Wal Mart.
Just go back and look at powers of the world in the past such as
Constantinople, Rome, Venice, England etc. Follow the gold. It may not
happen in our lifetime, but it can, and probably will, happen some day be it
China or some other country.

Such actions would hurt China far more than they would hurt the US.
Contrary to popular belief the US is not dependent on China for
_anything_.
As for China buying WalMart, that would actually be a very good move
for them, _if_ they could figure out how to keep it working, but I
fail to see how it would be bad for the US.

So how does the "gold" figure into any of those you mentioned?
Yes, eventually the US will cease to be the predominant power in the
world. That's life. China has four times our population. If they
_don't_ eventually become the predominant power in the world then they
have something _wrong_ with them. But my GOD what a market that's
going to be!

[snip]
It's already happened -- the Chinese refrigerator and appliance company
Haier has a manufacturing plant next to I-95 in South Carolina -- (not too
far away from the BMW and Michelin plants near Greenville) --

In which history book is there a cataloguing of the gold reserves of
each of these civilizations, and what, exactly, do you believe that
has to do with the Chinese economy?

So why are you on about it. You're going to die too, and if you spend
all your time obsessing about it you're not going to have much of a
life.

Look, the US can struggle to sell faucet washers against fourth-world
economies that can make faucet washers that are as good as ours for a
tenth the price, or we can just say to Hell with the faucet washer
market and concentrate on things that are more profitable. Which
makes more sense? And if the fourth world decides to cut off our
supply of faucet washers how long do you think it takes to get a
faucet washer production line going?

If you want a practical example of the above, look no farther than the
General Electric Company.
The company has had a dramatic restructuring over the last 25 years,
starting with J Welch and now J Immelt.
Gone are the low profit businesses, replaced by higher margin, hitech
businesses.
Lew

Or you could look at the Motorola model which is to sell off profitable
divisions in an attempt to keep the unprofitable divisions afloat.
After their divestiture of the handset business, there won't be much
left. The bone pickers have almost picked the carcase clean.

Motorla has been an accident waiting to happen.
You could see the writing on the wall when the CEO @ Sun Micro left
and took over Motorola.
His pockets are lined, the share holders are empty from both
companies.
Lew

There are numerous books on the history of gold and the history of money.
Visit any decent library and you'll find a couple of them.
Gold is actually a fascinating subject that goes back thousands of years.
The first gold minted as coins go back to 560 BC in Lydia. In 58 BC, Julius
Ceasar fought in Gaul and brought back enough gold to pay his soldiers and
pay off all the debt of the Roman Empire. I don't know of a particular
cataloguing of each countiries reserves, but it has provided wealth and
power for a very long time. Don't take my work, look it up. The Chinese are
slowly accumulating wealth, much coming from the US.

Obessing? I merely stated a fact. Call it a conversational thing but you
prefer to escalate it to something it is not.

In theory you are right, but we are moving more and more to China without
the replacement profitable items here yet. Perhaps you can move them along?
We have to concentrate more on taking those skilled machinists and train
them to become casino dealers. You probably saw the ad in The Courant for
the Florida casino. Many openings.

Actually, according to the "head hunters", there is a real shortage of
"skilled trades" personal.
Tool & Die, Carpenters (not saw dust generators), electricians (not
the strip and stuff bunch), plumbers/pipe fitters (more than don't eat
the yellow snow), salesmen(not order takers), as well as others, are
all positions that are in short supply.
Understand Jay Leno is funding some scholarships for automotive
skilled trades positions.
Long on brawn, short on brain, just won't cut it anymore.
Lew

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